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Mistletoe State Park is offering a number of programs for children over the next month. Program organizers hope to introduce youngsters to nature in a variety of ways.

On Tuesday, Nov. 25, the park will offer its Pioneer and Indians program for children ages 7-12. The program, which costs $20 per student, runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. According to program assistant Brenda Bettross, the children will learn about pioneer and Indian lifestyles.

“They will make candles, churn butter, make a pioneer tool, learn about blow guns and much more,” said Bettross.

A number of gardening experts will present a series of courses during a two-day Gardening Study School, sponsored by the National Council of Garden Clubs, Inc. The local course will be held on Nov. 14 and 15 at First Baptist Church of Augusta on Walton Way Extension.

The ice storm that wreaked havoc on the area earlier this year left a lot of downed trees at the Betty’s Branch area of Little River and a local group plans to clean it up with the help of community volunteers.

September is the perfect time to divide plants that have gotten too large for the garden or just need to be thinned.

“Perennials need to be divided because sometimes the center of the plant has died out or is no longer producing as many flowers,” notes gardener Dorothy Packard. “Dividing them is the surest, easiest and most inexpensive way to propagate them.”

According to Packard, early-blooming plants such as daylilies, liriope and irises should be divided in the fall of the year.

More than 300 people lined the banks of a cove at Mistletoe State Park last year to enjoy a day of fishing and fun at the park’s annual Kids’ Fishing Rodeo. This year, sponsors are hoping the event will draw an even larger crowd.

According to Marilyn Grau, volunteer coordinator with Friends of Mistletoe State Park, sponsor of the event, last year’s event saw an estimated 325 people visit the park for the fishing, festivities and lunch. She attributed the turnout to the ‘combination of good publicity and a beautiful day.”

Farmers markets are growing in communities all across the country. And, the CSRA is among those communities benefitting from goods produced by local growers.

“There is a growing and reinvigorating interest in our country to know the people who grow our food,” said Kim Hines, owner of Augusta Locally Grown, under which the Evans Towne Farmers Market operates. “And what better way is there to meet your farmer than to go to the local farmers market?”